If The Backup Plan Had Worked...
Written by me. I don't like this anymore. XC Not very good. You have been warned, read at your own risk. Chapter One Morrowseer spread his night-black wings, his dark eyes glittering in the half-light. A second NightWing, far smaller and thinner, slunk forward, her pale diamond necklace sparkling. "Greatness," said Morrowseer, acknowledging her with a curt nod. The NightWing princess dipped her head. "Morrowseer. I have been searching for you. The queen has made her decision." "Ah." Morrowseer smiled slightly. "Has she, now? Good, good. Well? Does she agree?" "Um...." Greatness's eyes flitted away from his. "Not quite. She wants to keep the original NightWing, from what she's heard of the replacement." Morrowseer sighed. "How will I explain that to Blister?" An image of the lithe, striking SandWing filled his mind. She was not pleased with Starflight, and Morrowseer needed to please her. After all, it was her ''SandWings that they needed to win the war. Snapping out of his thoughts, he growled. "Fatespeaker will do. I'll tell Battlewinner that if she wants the rainforest, Starflight will not get her there." "All right," agreed Greatness. She always resigned to what ever he said, thankfully. "Anyway," she continued. "As for who to appoint, the queen suggested Deathbringer." Morrowseer narrowed his eyes. "No, I don't trust him. He's been out on the continent too much...a NightWing who has been stuck here will relish this chance even more. Lifestealer will do." Greatness nodded. "I will tell her." She turned and spread her wings, vanishing into the shadows. Chapter Two "Where's Glory?" Clay's brown eyes were wide with panic. Sunny stumbled to her talons unsteadily, still weary and very, very cold. "What?" she asked him. Clay turned to her. "Sunny, Glory's not here! I woke up a while ago and thought she might have just gone hunting or something, but she hasn't come back! I need to go look for her!" "Clay, no!" Starflight yelped. "You may be caught by an IceWing patrol!" Tsunami shook her head frantically. "What if an IceWing patrol has already caught Glory? We need to rescue her!" "Maybe we could-" began Sunny, an idea forming in her mind. ''If Jambu disguised himself as an IceWing... Tsunami broke over her. "Let's go, now!" The dark blue SeaWing raced out into the cold. Clay followed, and Sunny scrambled after him. She heard Starflight trailing behind her, and Jambu's snores still sounded from the cave. Well...I don't think he could help much anyway, if we're just going to run out here. For several minutes, the dragonets ran through the snow, looking everywhere for Glory. Then she heard Clay give a roar of sorrow and shock, and peered over his shoulder, fear prickling her spines. Her heart dropped like a stone in her chest. Sprawled on the snow, lifeless, scales edged with frost, was Glory. Chapter Three The sun was spilling through the rainforest canopy. Starflight clenched his talons, feeling sick. Tsunami's wing draped over him. He felt Sunny pressed against him, his scales muffling her sobs. Clay curled around the three of them. It had been a week since they had found Glory dead in the Ice Kingdom, her throat slashed. Clay had carried her back. They had buried her here, in her home. He missed her. Clay hadn't spoken since. Sunny would burst into tears whenever she saw anything that reminded her of Glory. Tsunami spent a lot of time near her grave, mumbling. Starflight just felt empty and hollow. No matter how many times they had argued or how many times she had interrupted his lectures, no matter of his jealously of her ability to remember things so easily, he mourned her deeply. Now, he wanted to be alone. Slowly, he detached himself from the others and flew away. He found himself at Glory's grave. Vines. Flowers. A stone marked with her name. He pressed his talons against it. Something dark flashed at the corner of his eye. He twisted to see it. Then there was a burst of pain, a splash of red, and everything went black. Chapter Four "Starflight?" wailed Sunny. "Starflight!" repeated Tsunami. Where could he be? "We'll find him," Tsunami assured the little gold SandWing, but she felt worry weighing down her own wings. Where did he go? Why hasn't he come back? Then another thought hit her, sad yet reassuring. Oh...he must be with Glory. "Sunny, Clay, I think I know where Starflight is," she told them quietly. "I'm going to go find him, all right?" She slowly stretched her wings, then launched herself into the air. Tsunami glided over the rainforest. If she hadn't traveled this route so frequently, she would never be able to find Starflight. But she visited the grave...every day...forever regretting all the times she had argued with Glory or snapped at her... She stared ahead, into the sunset, letting her instinct guide her. She didn't look away, even when the brightness became too much to bear. Rosy pink and bright orange were streaking along the horizon as the sun sank lower. It was beautiful. Nothing should look like that. Nothing should look beautiful. Not now. Not ever. She felt anger well up inside of her. She gave into it, lashing out at stray branches and leaves, watching them tear beneath her claws and fall to the mossy earth far below. As Tsunami ripped a mango off a tree and sliced it into slivers, she glanced down to see the clearing where Glory was buried. Grief replaced her anger as she alighted on the ground. She ran her talons along the name etched into the headstone. Queen Glory She drew her talons away, then circled around the clearing. "Starflight?" she whispered. "Starflight?" Something rustled in the shadows behind her. Tsunami jumped, startled, then turned to see the shape of a dragon in the shadows. Silver scales sparkled in the darkness like stars. "Oh," she sighed, exhaling in relief. "Starflight." Starflight stepped forward, walking towards her. His claws glinted in the evening light, and his small eyes shone. That's....that's not Starflight. The NightWing lunged for her. Tsunami gave a yell of shock and slashed at his snout. He drew back for a moment before slamming into her. Tsunami's head struck the stone marking Glory's grave, and she fell to the soft earth. The last thing her eyes landed on before everything faded away was the small, slumped body of a black dragonet. Starflight. Chapter Five It was my fault. Everything was my fault. I should have been there. I would have died for each of them, a thousand times over. But if I was really that loyal, I shouldn't have ever let any of them go off alone. This is all my fault. '' ''All of it. Clay buried his face in his talons. Sunny crouched, limp and grieving, in the curve of his wing. Never would he let her go. Rain dripped through the canopy, splashing down Clay's snout and mixing with his tears. It wet the freshly torn earth, under which Tsunami and Starflight lay. Dead. Because of him. All of it was his fault. He ran one claw over the words he had carved. Crudely. Roughly. When Tsunami and Starflight deserved so much more... Tsunami Starflight No. They didn't deserve even the finest grave. They didn't deserve a massive headstone of polished gold, or a whole castle dedicated to their memory. Because they deserved so, so much more that those things count for nothing. They deserved to live. Then he felt Sunny yanked out from under his wing. Clay gave a roar of shock and fear. No! Not again! I won't let this happen! But before he could move, something hit him on the back of the head and he crumpled to the ground unconscious. Chapter Six Nautilus paced nervously along the ruins of the Summer Palace. There was little chance a SeaWing would surface, but he still wished he hadn't been the one to do this. Especially because he knew of the news that awaited him- but which form of it, he still did not know. Not yet. His heart was beating rapidly. Please, please let them have had an acceptable SeaWing. I couldn't...if Morrowseer takes Squid... "Hello, Nautilus." Nautilus whirled around, bringing his tail forward sharply. At the sight of Morrowseer, he dropped it to the sand and nodded, as calmly as he could, to the NightWing, who clutched a huge sack in his talons. "The MudWing was a problem," Morrowseer grunted. "I can handle his weight, of course, but it makes carrying this sack a bigger pain than I would wish." The MudWing. Okay. What about the SeaWing? Trying to keep his voice steady, he casually -or so he hoped- asked Morrowseer, "Ah, so those are the original dragonets. How many of them did you decide to keep?" "Two," replied Morrowseer. "Which ones?" pressed Nautilus urgently. Morrowseer gave him an odd look. "Oh, um- well, I'll need to know which of the false ones to do away with, right?" he said. That was one ''of the reasons, so at least he wasn't quite lying...if he was, the huge NightWing would probably read his mind and find out. Morrowseer shrugged. "The MudWing and the SandWing- the SandWing is a little odd, but she'll probably follow orders better than the other one. Both of these ones aren't very smart, so we won't have a problem with them." Nautilus's heart sank like a stone in the ocean. "So...Flame and Fatespeaker and...Squid...they'll all be going with you?" He knew the answer already. "Of course," said Morrowseer. "And we'll need to go as soon as we can. So prepare them and kill the other two. Meet me here tomorrow night or I'll come to get them myself." With that, he unfolded his wings and glided into the darkness. Chapter Seven "Have I mentioned how much I hate it here?" "Only a thousand times!" "I really, really do hate it here! And considering the fact that-" "Keep talking an I'm going to bite your snout!" "Well, my dad won't let you, because he's the ''leader ''of the Talons of Peace!" "Let's see what he can do for you when he isn't here!" "OW! Viper! Bite him back!" "Both of you shut up or I will stab you through the skulls with my tail." Sunny opened her eyes. The air smelled like smoke. Her scales felt dusty and dry, and the ground was hard stone. She coughed, choking on the thick air. "Dad! Flame bit me!" A whiny, shrill voice echoed through the air. Sunny felt something huge and warm stir against her and, with a rush of relief, recognized the form of Clay. She pressed against him. Where were they? A new voice called back sharply. "It doesn't matter. Viper, Ochre, come with me." "What's under the sack?" asked a third voice. "Doesn't matter," the second voice replied gruffly. "With me. Now." A pause. Talons scuffled over the stony floor. Then silence. "Where are they going?" growled a fourth dragon. "I predict....somewhere wonderful!!" yet another voice replied. "Ooh, maybe off of this island! Then he'll come back for us, and..." The voice became strained, like the dragon it belonged to was scrunching up her snout. "-and we'll all get a whole walrus to eat!" she finished dramatically. "You predicted that a week or so ago." Sunny finally hauled herself up to her talons. A canvas form fell off of her, and a blast of warm air hit her face. She stood in a dark cave composed out of black rock. Three pairs of eyes squinted at her curiously. "Wow!" the voice of the fifth dragon exclaimed. "I must admit, I did ''not ''forsee this!" A NightWing with a band of sparkling silver scales around one ankle, as well as one on the corner of each eye, emerged from the shadows of the cave. Sunny had never seen such markings on a NightWing before. But she couldn't bring herself to comment about them. Because that only made her think of Starflight... Without really realizing it, Sunny burst into tears. "Hm," growled the fourth voice. "She's as weird as you are, Fatespeaker. Only in the opposite way." A red SkyWing stepped forward, his dusty scales dull. He peered at her, staring. "Did he bring anything else but you in the sack? There's still something big under there. Perhaps some fresh fish for me? If so, about time!" A small green SeaWing fluttered forward. He jabbed at Clay's shape. "Not fish," he sighed huffily. Sunny wished she could stop the tears streaming down her face, but these other dragonets were reminding her of her friends...Tsunami and Glory and Starflight...who were...who were dead... She felt a wing wrap around her and pull her closer. "Hey, what's wrong?" asked the NightWing- Fatespeaker? "You might be a part of destiny, which is the most awesome thing in the world! Right, guys?" "No," said the SkyWing flatly. "I hate it. It's stupid and there's no treasure," grumbled the SeaWing. The other two dragonets turned away, clearly uninterested and annoyed. ''I used to have a destiny. No- I still do- I have to- the prophecy- but Starflight- and Tsunami and Glory-'' Sunny's thoughts were a jumble of confusion. She clutched her talons to her head. "It's okay!" insisted Fatespeaker. "Flame and Squid are just kidding about the whole destiny thing. Once Viper and Ochre come back, they'll tell you. Or, once we come to them. On the mainland. With a walrus." She grinned at Sunny. "My visions," she promised. "Are ''never ''wrong." Chapter Eight Fatespeaker looked the weird little SandWing up and down. No, she certainly hadn't seen a dragon like that in her visions. Perhaps this dragonet ''had ''been there, but she hadn't noticed her because it was in the middle of one of her ''super important ''visions. Suddenly, Fatespeaker was sure that had been it. "So, what's your name?" she asked the SandWing, hoping to distract her from whatever had made her so upset. "Sunny," gulped the SandWing, her wings drooping. "I'm Fatespeaker," she introduced herself. "Oh, and the grumpy SkyWing is Flame, and the little SeaWing is Squid. Viper and Ochre should be back soon. Normally we wouldn't be all living together like this, because I've heard that's not normal for dragons of different Tribes or whatever, but we're a big exception! We're the dragonets of destiny!" She felt a burst of joy inside of her, like every other time she uttered that phrase. ''Dragonets of destiny! So awesome! But apparently Sunny didn't think so. Confusion and sorrow clouded her gaze and she looked away sharply. What did I say? As Fatespeaker tried to think of another way to comfort Sunny, she heard a dragon entering the cave. She turned to see Nautilus coming in, alone. So he did take Ochre and Viper to the off this island! Well, of course he did. I foresaw it! "Can we go, now?" she demanded of him. She really, ''really ''couldn't wait to see the mainland! Then she could find her tribe, which would be great! They could show her their secret home and she would fulfill her destiny with all four of her friends! Nautilus stared at her. "What? Go where?" "To the mainland, of course!" Fatespeaker told him brightly. "Where you took Viper and Ochre!" Nautilus shook his head. "I- I didn't take them anywhere," he mumbled. "Just- just stay put until I tell you to. You'll be leaving soon enough." With that, he turned and left. As he dragged his claws on the stone, Fatespeaker thought she saw a glisten of red upon them. But she couldn't be sure. Category:Fanfictions (Completed) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)